Matcha Green Tea Muffins

Coffee and I have a pretty dysfunctional relationship. Some mornings, she tempts me with the promise of so much positive energy that I’ll feel like I can build a spaceship before lunchtime, but really, I just spend the following hours rearranging the icons on my phone, feeling like my skin is suddenly way too small for me.

Yes, I am extremely sensitive to caffeine.

[SCIENCE ALERT] But this is where things get interesting. While tea and coffee both have caffeine, the compound found in tea is totally different than the one in coffee. It is technically the same substance, but tea’s caffeine binds to the tannins to produce a more stable and measured alertness; like a slow-release capsule versus an intravenous injection. Even better, tea has this powerful psychoactive amino acid called theanine that boosts mood and reduces stress. The coolest part of all is that theanine and caffeine work synergistically to keep you alert and focused but balanced and stable.

So, tea has all the sexiness of coffee with none of the crazy-psycho side effects? I’m in love.

Not every tea is high in theanine, however. Only the highest-quality Japanese green teas offer these kind of benefits. In this regard, matcha is the gold standard. Unlike typical tea where you brew and then toss the leaves, matcha is a fine powder ground from high-quality leaves, which is typically whisked with water and drunk. Thus, you actually ingest the leaves themselves, giving you a much higher concentration of caffeine, theanine, and antioxidants. The powder also works really well in baking, as we’re about to see.

To celebrate my love for matcha, let’s make some delicious little muffins, shall we? These guys are a basic whole-grain muffin naturally sweetened with maple syrup and infused with lots of matcha. The recipe below is fairly dry because I like dry muffins. But if you prefer them to be more moist, mash 1/2 banana into the batter.

Start your day with one of these matcha muffins and you’ll totally forget about the cup of coffee you used to love.

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

2/3 cup soy milk

1 tablespoon ground flax

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4+ cup coconut oil

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons matcha

Chocolate chips or blueberries

Preheat the oven to 375º F.

Step One

Combine the soy milk, flax seed, lemon juice, and vanilla in a bowl and whisk together. Set this aside and allow to thicken for 5-10 minutes.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Then, sift in the matcha powder. Sifting is important to prevent any clumps of matcha in the batter.

Step Two

Melt the coconut oil and maple syrup in a large mixing bowl. As mentioned, these muffins are fairly dry. If you like dry muffins, this recipe is perfect. If not, you can either add more coconut oil (not recommended) or half a mashed banana which adds a lot of moisture and body without adding too strong of a banana flavor.

Then, pour in the soy milk mixture and stir together. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and combine, but do not over mix. I added a handful of vegan dark chocolate chips at this point, but blueberries are a healthier option that would work just as well.

Step Three

Spoon the batter to a muffin pan with liners, about 2/3 full, and bake for about 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean, but before the edges start browning. Optionally sift a little matcha over the top and allow to cool before serving.

You’re making me divulge my secrets! 🙂 So, getting “real” tea in America is hard because 1) no one understands or cares about tea and 2) the importers would need to import huge quantities cheaply, so it’s all low quality. Personally, I get my tea from http://www.o-cha.com, which is based in Japan and they ship directly to you. Their prices aren’t much more than Teavana or another tea shop, but they hand-pick the best selections from local farmers so the quality is a million times better. Whatever you do, stay away from supermarket matcha! 🙂

These muffins sound really neat & as long as I use another liquid & almond flour they’re easily adaptable to my gluten-free & soy-free diet :0)! As I can get acid reflux, I’m curious what your thoughts are on how Matcha can effect that? An internet search gave contradicting info. as internet searches often can. But it sounds like many who complained green tea or specific ones like matcha & others gave them acid indigestion when on an empty stomach. If that’s the only reason than my avoiding doing that & these muffins make that a moot point! Also, wondering what’s wrong with supermarket matcha & does that include Whole Foods? Lastly, why do you suggest blueberries OR chocolate chips?-Clearly there should be an AND there :0D! Thank you so much!

Yes, I could imagine these muffins working well with other types of flour and maybe almond milk to make them gluten and soy-free. Hmm, I honestly couldn’t report on acid reflux, I could only do that same internet search with conflicting results, though in muffins, I couldn’t imagine it being a problem. Oh, supermarket matcha is fine to use (especially in baking) but it’s just not very high quality.

Hey Stephanie, thanks for the comments! Matcha bread? Never tried that one…

Matcha ice cream is awesome and you just gave me a great idea there… One time I posted a “one ingredient” ice cream recipe with just pureed frozen bananas. How awesome would that be with some matcha and vanilla?! I might have to give that a shot this weekend 🙂

I just made this recipe. I followed the directions to a T except for the soy milk, I used 1% dairy milk since I didn’t have any soy and I was all out of almond. They turned out great but not as fluffy looking as yours. I think I may have over mixed the wet and dry ingredients since I added some of the dry to the wet a bit too quickly. It took me a while to incorporate them but they turned out yummy. Maybe it was the dairy milk vs soy? Who knows, anyway thanks! 🙂

Hey Jen! Over mixing is the enemy of all things wheat. I’m guessing that was the reason the muffins were more dense. If you haven’t already, check out my article on pancakes (https://www.oneingredientchef.com/vegan-pancakes/) which goes into detail about what happens to wheat/gluten when strained by over mixing. Muffins aren’t exactly pancakes but the same principles should still apply. 🙂

I can’t wait to try this. What is the purpose of the flax (egg replacement) or just nutrition? If it’s to replace the egg, I will try chia seeds. Udo (from Udo’s oil) says not to cook flax because it makes it toxic and can cause migrains. Thanks.

I used almond milk instead of soy milk and added a lot of raspberries and vegan chocolate chips. Although the green tea flavor is a bit weak, these are delicious. I didn’t add the banana but they’re still really moist from the raspberries. C=

I’ve made this recipe about 6 times now. Recently I was inspired by the lemon juice and suggestion of blueberries. I modified by adding a couple of large handfuls of blueberries and the zest of one lemon. Lemon, blueberry, green tea goodness!

I ALWAYS add a half of a large banana or a whole small one. I also use chia seeds and about a teaspoon of flax oil. They hold together great.

Hi Valerie, chia and flax aren’t exactly interchangeable so I couldn’t say for sure, but my guess is ground chia would work similarly. I don’t eat animal products so I have no idea how chicken eggs could be used in food.

I don’t have a ton of experience with GF flour, but I’m fairly certain coconut flour on its own would not work. Coconut flour tends to be a whole different animal when it comes to baking. You’d probably have best luck with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour blend.

Ah, I wouldn’t bake exclusively with coconut flour… It’s a very complex flour to use and it typically needs to be mixed with something else. I can only speak for the whole wheat flour that I used here.

This was so delicious! My first and only success making a matcha green tea baked good and anything matcha for that matter and it turned out wonderful – I’ve eaten 3 already! Used a little less honey, added blueberries and half a banana but I think more honey and no blueberries with just half a banana would be perfect too!

Probably not. Coconut flour isn’t a *real* flour and it can be incredibly hard to get the intended results with it, especially when replacing gluten-based flours. That said, if you’re a coconut flour ninja and know way more about how to mix/use it than I do, then go for it! 🙂

Hi, these muffins look great, but do you think you could sub in Almond Flour and Almound Milk to keep carb count down? I am newer to the substitutions so not sure if someone knows?
Thanks for the great recipes! I love green tea

No, I don’t think so. It would add a million grams of fat, quadruple the calorie count, and (most importantly) almond flour isn’t flour – it’s just ground almonds which have no similarities with the gluten in the wheat. Unless it’s a very specific recipe designed to use ground almonds, I’d stick with wheat-based flours for these muffins.

Hi, Andrew. This is definitely awesome recipe for matcha lover but I am trying to cut out sugar from my diet. So, do ya think 1) it’s possible change the maple syrup to 1/8 cup instead of 1/2 cup? Because I believe the chocolate chips are going to contribute to the sweetness of the muffin as well. 2) instead of adding banana for a moist muffin, can i add some yogurt instead? Any idea how much should I add if it’s possible?

First of all, this recipe is fantastic, and I give you so much credit for putting the work into testing and publishing this. It’s such encouragement for those who are looking to bake vegan treats 🙂

Having said that, I found the matcha to be too mild for my own taste (the brand of matcha powder that I used is also probably a factor). How can I add more matcha flavor without it getting too bitter? Is it as simple is upping the dose in increments of 1/2 tsp? Thanks for this amazing recipe!!

Great Recipe ! I have used it a few times with different variations . I usually add more Matcha and i have thrown in home cooked aduki beans with silvered Almonds. I have also used coconut milk instead of soy milk and today i added Vegan White choc chips !! They always go so well with Matcha. Thanks for this simple and yet fabulous recipe !

These are so awesome. I made three batches in two days. The first batch I used coconut milk, white flour, half a banana and chocolate chips. They were wonderful. This evening I made a double and used coconut milk, less maple syrup, more ground flax seed, whole wheat flour, no lemon juice (ran out of lemons), no salt, extra vanilla, extra matcha powder and blueberries!!! They are even better. I am so glad I stumbled across this recipe. Super easy to make! Thank you

Love your recipe and it’s what made me decide to subscribe to you!
For an alternative, would it be possible to sub part of the flour with almond flour? Trying to keep the carb count down because of triglycerides.
And what do you think about using dried cherries instead of blueberries? One of my favorite Japanese flavors is matcha and sakura combined and I may try that after making these plain at least once.

For gluten free Bob’s Red Mill GF 1 to 1 flour is more like wheat than Bob’s Red Mill GF All Purpose. If eaten fresh, and you care about low carb / paleo then Bob’s Red Mill GF All Purpose works fine, they just don’t taste the same the next day.
Almond flour is better for cookies and crackers, and for non-vegans chicken egg white holds almond flour better than flax seeds mixed with water.
Matcha from whole foods is definitely good for baking.
Hope this helps fellow GF and/or low carb bakers.

Thanks for the recipe, however, my muffins didn’t turn out so well. Maybe I didn’t make them small enough or it is because of banana… They were too heavy , too moist. I want to give it a shoot another time, but not sure what I should change…

As mentioned, these muffins are fairly dry. If you like dry muffins, this recipe is perfect. If not, you can either add more coconut oil (not recommended) or half a mashed banana which adds a lot of moisture and body without adding too strong of a banana flavor.

I don’t want to use the flax. The internet says that it is a vegan substitute for egg. What can i do if I want to use egg instead? Does that change anything i need such as lemon juice. Why is there lemon juice anyway? I love this recipe and most definitely like matcha related foods such as ice cream and cake. Please help me as i need information as soon as possible.

This would be the 3rd time making these. These are really good, one of my favorite things to use matcha in. I haven’t made it as a tea yet. I used raw honey instead of maple syrup, maybe next time I’ll try coconut milk instead of whole milk.